Dopus 5.9 released for AmigaOS4 on X1000

This week we saw the release of the first upgrade of Directory Opus in over 14 years. Directory Opus 5.9 is now released for AmigaOS4 on os4depot.net, worked on by kas1e and various other team members over the past few years.

I have been playing with the BETA version of the upgraded version of DOpus 5.9 for some time now - you can see some of my previous blog entries about it here and here.

I have previously covered in those entries how to change the default topaz fonts and screen resolution, etc in those previous blog entries so I will not rehash that again, but it is worth checking out first if you plan to use DOpus 5.9 for the first time.

Now that it has reached the stable release version, I downloaded and installed it as a clean installation (not upgrading the BETA version). 

I am pleased to report it works well, and many of the bugs I saw in testing the BETA version are now all fixed.

I still have a lot to learn about DOpus 5.9 - even when I used DOpus 5.82 all those years ago, I never came close to using all the functionality of it.

To encourage me to use it more often, I have set it up so that DOpus 5.9 runs on the Radeon 9250 screen on bootup of AmigaOS 4.1.6 (via WBStartup), with the standard AmigaOS 4.1.6 Workbench still on the Radeon HD screen. 

Here is Directory Opus 5.9 running on the Radeon 9250 screen. Looks great (click to expand):

This setup now allows me to take full advantage of my dual screen displays - DOpus 5.9 on the left screen, AmigaOS4.1.6 on the right:

It also means I can watch a full screen 720p video using LiveForIt MPlayer on the Radeon HD screen while still being able to use DOpus 5.9 at the same time:

Here is a close up comparison shot of a standard AmigaOS 4.1.6 System folder versus the Directory Opus 5.9 equivalent:

AmigaOS4.1.6 System Drive folder, default view:

Directory Opus 5.9 System Drive folder. Icon Action lister view:

DOpus 5.9 looks great in my opinion - and it is not just skin deep either. The extra functions attached to icons across the top of each window, easy method to navigate to parent folders within the same window, and of course copy between two windows by changing source and destination status is very flexible, avoiding the need to drag and drop files around.

The view above is the "Icon Action" lister view. Below is the standard lister view, which makes selecting multiple files for actions very easy indeed:

You can then use the action buttons at the bottom of the screen (or the actions in the lister itself) to do operations on the selected files (Copy, Move, Delete, Protect, Run, Rename, Edit, Check Fit and much more).

You can right click on a folder or folders to get the current size of it - useful for working out where all your space has gone!

Device list lister functionality allows you to quickly see all devices and assigns at a glance:

You can also get a nicer view of Disk information - for example on a hard disk partition:

The FTP integration with DOpus 5.9 is also welcome - just type into the Lister at the bottom of the window where you want to go - for example below I did ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/aminet which is an Aminet mirrror:

I then downloaded a module file via the FTP site - when downloaded, the archive contents open automatically in a new lister, ready for me to copy to wherever I want:

I then right clicked on the file in the lister, Highlighted Open With, selected Other... and then browsed to the AmigaAmp3 folder and selected AmigaAmp3. It then opened in AmigaAmp3 on the Radeon HD screen as below:

From now on, whenever I right click on a module file in DOpus 5.9, I can open with AmigaAmp3 as it is now listed as a program to open it with. This works for MP3 files too.

Of course you can add more programs to this Open With menu too, such as Mplayer for movie files.

There is an FTP AddressBook in DOpus 5.9 (accessible from the User Menu in the title bar) that you can add your favourite FTP sites to, for easy connection anytime without having to keep typing it in:

DOpus 5.9 is very flexible, and highly customisable - themes can also be used too, although I have not tried this yet.

There is plenty more to explore, but hopefully this gives you a taste!

Given Directory Opus 5.9 is free for anyone to download from os4depot.net, it is a highly recommended application for all X1000 owners and indeed all AmigaOS4.1.6 owners.

My CDTV has arrived!

This week I was glad to receive my Commodore CDTV in the post. I have never owned a CDTV so I was keen to get one - when the opportunity came I wasn't going to miss it!

I remember when I first saw a CDTV back when they were still for sale in the early 1990's, and all I could think was how cool does that look, it looks like a hifi component...and it uses CD's for games, played videos and "multimedia" stuff....and then I saw the price and my heart sank - I knew I could never afford it.

My local Amiga dealer in Perth had a CDTV on display and available to copy fish disks from CD onto floppy disk for free (if you bought the blank disks from them of course). I used to use this service quite a bit to get free software to play with on my family's Amiga 500. The CDTV (like the Amiga 500) ran Workbench 1.3, with an additional CDTV firmware ROM included.

Ultimately my Dad was not interested in it at all and bought the Amiga 2000HD in 1991 instead, which I am glad he did as it offered a lot more features! I bought the A2000 from him when he upgraded to a PC and I still have that A2000 to this day.

I guess a lot of people felt the same way as my Dad about the CDTV because it sold poorly from it's introduction in late 1991. Commodore reinstated Amiga branding to the CDTV, since it was really an Amiga 500 with a CD drive. They then added a keyboard and external drive so you could boot the large selection of Amiga disk based games available (rather than the very small CD selection available). 

Unfortunately most people still didn't see the benefit, and kept their Amiga 500 computers and just bought the 100% compatible A570 CD drive addon instead, which let them play all CDTV games on the Amiga 500.

Commodore stopped selling it when the CD32 console came out in 1993.

I still thought it looked cool though, and part of me always wanted to get one eventually.

Fast forward to 2014 and the opportunity came along recentl when an Australian CDTV was for sale on Ebay - I wasn't going to miss out. There was some heavy bidding but I won it, and here it is, fresh out of the box this week:

There is a memory card slot hidden in the front bezel, but it is very rare and expensive to get memory cards for it.

Back in the days when this was released, CD drives in computers didn't have a tray - instead they had a CD caddy case you put the CD into, and then insert the caddy into the CD drive. This is why there is a big warning sticker on the top reminding owners not to insert CD's into it without a caddy:

Here is the view of the rear of the case:

The usual Amiga 500 ports are there - RGB port, Parallel, Serial, Disk Drive, Audio Out, but also some CDTV specific ports too. RF TV Out, RF Antenna In, Component out ports - an expansion bay also exists for genlock expansion card too:

Keyboard and Remote ports are different too - the CDTV uses an A4000D spec keyboard port connector, while the remote sensor mouse port requires an optional remote sensor (which I don't have). You can control the mouse from the infra red controller included. Also interesting is the MIDI in and out ports, the only time an Amiga ever had these built in!

I used to use a parallel port MIDI connector box (which I still have), to connect to a Roland Piano with the Amiga Format freebie Sequencer One software on the A2000.

I then hooked up the CDTV to my TFT monitor using my external DCE scandoubler I use for my Amiga equipment from time to time, and after power on I am greeted with the CDTV boot screen logo, waiting for a CD to proceed:

Close up of the front display, showing the current time and volume level:

Another view showing the CD Drive, which has an eject button similar to an Amiga floppy drive. Speaking of which, you can also make out an external Amiga floppy drive I have connected to the CDTV to try out Amiga game and demo disks:

For the first CD to try, I though an audio CD would be good - I picked Immortal 3, which contains many Amiga game music songs remixed with real instruments. This gives me a chance to use the CD Player interface on the CDTV, and also listen to some Amiga originated music. Here it is, loaded into the CD Caddy ready to go:

Below is the infrared CDTV controller. I already had one I bought to use with the Chameleon 64, and the one included with the CDTV I received is slightly different.  Here is the controller included with the CDTV:

As you can see, it has quite a few functions contained on the controller, included a volume control for headphone use, Audio CD control functions, Genlock mode, Joy/Mouse button - which allows the controller to switch between being a joystick or a mouse, depending on what you are using on the CDTV.

On the other controller I already had, the joy/mouse button was a physical switch on the controller, with the power button switched with it's original position, as below:

I imagine on the joy/mouse switch version, it was very easy to accidently power the CDTV unit off. Makes sense why they moved it and made the power button recessed to avoid accidental power offs...

The back of the controller says Made in Japan. Nice, it's been a while since I have seen something electronic made in Japan, rather than the usual China, Taiwan, Indonesia or Malaysia. The CDTV unit itself is made in Japan too:

Here is the CD caddy, Immortal 3 CD in place, half inserted into the CDTV:

After inserting, the Audio CD interface quickly appears. I remember when I first saw this interface back in the 1990's and thinking how advanced it was:

The usual Audio CD control options are present, controllable using the directional buttons on the controller, or just use the play/pause/fast forward/rewind buttons:

I was kicking back, relaxing to the nice tunes on Immortal 3 while burning off some CDTV CD's to try out. The CD Player screen changes after a few minutes to a rotating and moving CDTV logo to prevent screen burn-in - nice touch.

With the initial batch of CD burning completed, the first CD I wanted to try (having seen it on YouTube) is the Psygnosis Demo CD. It includes playback of the various intro fancy animations Psygnosis produced for many of their Amiga games in the 1990-1991 period:

The CD drive has a power light on the left (green), and a yellow activity light on the right when loading:

CDTV was intended to be a multimedia centre and not only for games, and to that end Commodore encouraged CDTV titles that were reference material, like Cookbooks, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, History, Culture CD's and so on.

Mind you, they are pretty unexciting to be honest.

I next tried out Xenon 2 on the CDTV, and was very surprised to hear Bomb the Bass high quality audio cd based soundtrack, with multiple songs available to listen to in the game too (which I hadn't heard before):

I have to say that it was more fun playing Xenon 2 with the better quality music on the CDTV than the original Amiga version (I am a big fan of Bomb the Bass too). Using the controller as a joystick was not great for this type of game though:

I then tried out Almathera's Demo Collection CD for CDTV. Included in it is lots of demos to play, but also this interesting module player, complete with Amiga style demo effects. Many of my favourite Amiga mods were available to play back through the CD - I thought this was neat:

Crank up Sidewalk-strut thank you - yes, absolutely:

The mod selection interface is a bit too small on the screen, but works well enough - the demo effects in the background brought me quickly right back to the early 1990's!

An interesting CD I found to try out is the Commodore CDTV, Amiga 600 and Amiga 600HD information CD, which contains a lot of technical and sales related material for the Amiga CDTV, 600 and 600HD. I imagine at the time it would have looked impressive:

They promoted various games and education titles on the CD too - Learn French with Asterix anyone?

Perhaps learn something about Japan culture and customs? Can't find this CD anywhere - please let me know if you have it or know where I can download it from!

There was also this Amiga CDTV information screen on the CD too, which looks a bit naff to be honest - I guess it is restricted to the basic colours of Workbench 1.3 PAL screens:

I have to say, I am enjoying finally owning a CDTV and catching up on some software I never got a chance to play with. I have plenty more CD's to try out, but obviously not an unlimited supply so I will pace myself trying them out!

YouTubeCentre Plugin for YouTube on X1000

Today I want to take a look at the YouTubeCentre plugin for the Odyssey 1.23r3 web browser on the AmigaOne X1000. Also taking a quick look at LiveForIt Mplayer and Mplayer GUI.

The YouTubeCentre plugin is an extremely flexible control plugin for the YouTube.com website, to allow you to customise how you want to view YouTube videos and all the associated settings, including downloading the videos, removing ads, repeat functionality, lights on/off, removing end screen on videos, not displaying overlay during videos and much more too!

I want to sincerely thank user Boot_WB from the Amigaworld.net forums for letting me know about this plugin!

The YouTubeCentre plugin is not included as part of the Odyssey 1.23r3 web browser, but from my testing appears to work quite well with it.

If you don't have it already, Odyssey 1.23r3 is recently released on AmigaOS4.1.6 and is available from os4depot.net. I already took a look at this 1.23r2 version of Odyssey recently in this blog entry, so I won't repeat myself covering that material.

In my case, when I installed the upgraded version of Odyssey, I didn't install it over the top of the old version. Instead I renamed the old version folder to Odyssey.old, and then installed 1.23r3 as a fresh install.

Upon launching Odyssey 1.23r3, I first went to download the YouTubeCentre.user.js plugin, which is available from https://bitbucket.org/YePpHa/youtube-center/downloads.

To download, right click on YouTubeCentre.user.js and save it into the Odyssey's Scripts folder, located within the Odyssey folder - wherever you installed Odyssey on your computer.

Having done this, I then closed Odyssey, reopened it and browsed to YouTube.com:

I then went right clicked on the top of the AmigaOS4.1.6 screen to access the Odyssey Menu, and highlighted Windows and then select the option in the menu that appears called Scripts... which then open the Scripts window as below:

As you can see, it is empty. Click on Add button, and it should automatically take you to the Scripts directory to choose from a number of scripts. Avoid the YouTube.js and YouTube_EZDownload.js, and select all the others (one at a time - click Add button to add more until done):

Once all installed the Scripts window should look like this:

Note that the YouTube Fullscreen Fix currently does not work under AmigaOS4.

Make sure each script is set to be enabled. Then close the window in top left corner, and restart Odyssey.

Then go to YouTube.com again - now you will get a prompt from the YouTubeCentre plugin, which has run because you went to YouTube.com, and is asking to be configured:

There are a lot of settings to configure here, a sample is included below to give you an idea how granular the settings are in YouTubeCentre:

When you change settings they are saved automatically. Click on the close gadget in the top right when done.

I then viewed a YouTube video which worked perfectly. No need anymore to use HTML5 mode in YouTube, or to spoof the browser as an ipad to get it to play correctly:

Fantastic! Above you can see the extra bar that YouTubeCentre adds below the YouTube video to allow you to download the video (and choose the resolution), repeat the video, lights on/off (darken the background), Resize the video display and alter the aspect ratio:

When you activate the lights off mode, it changes the background like below, to make it easier to view the video without the distractions around the video itself:

I then used the Download option below the video, to download the video from YouTube as a 720p video:

Odyssey then prompts me to save it somewhere:

Odyssey thens shows the download in progress:

While I was waiting for this to download, I wanted to show some of the YouTubeCentre menus in the bar below the playback screen of any video, while browsing YouTube.com - here is the Resize Menu:

This is the Aspect Ratio Menu:

And here is some more of the YouTubeCentre plugin settings - General Options:

Player settings - you can remove the end screen automatically, and watermarks, branding banners and so on - wonderful:

In the Player menu you can also set the default resolution for playback. My ADSL connection is not great so I use 360p for default:

Under download options you can specify the default download resolution and format:

I have to say this YouTubeCentre is very impressive - much thanks to the author YePpHa below:

Once the video had downloaded, I then fired up the newest LiveForIt Mplayer software and MPlayer GUI (by Denil 715) from os4depot.net to play it:

I initially set full screen under the Video tab (as below), but for some reason it uses my 9250 card to display rather than the Radeon HD, so I set it back to Window mode. Make sure video output is using cgxwpa for best playback:

I then hit Play and it played back perfectly in 720p in Mplayer - no skips or audio sync issues - very happy:

And here it is while playing back on the AmigaOS4.1.6 screen (click to expand):

I also recorded the playback via YouTube in two videos if you would like to see how it runs on the X1000. I recorded these on iphone and uploaded at low quality rather than full quality - sorry in advance:

YouTubeCentre, Odyssey 1.23r3 and LiveForIt Mplayer are all excellent and I recommend installing them and trying them out for yourself on your X1000!